Angels Subjection
- Details
- Sunday Morning Service
- Jeremy Richards
- Copalis Community Church
- 29 March 2026
- Hebrews 1:5-8
Stamps on this bug or this thing, and it is so strong, it resists all kinds of pressure upon it. And so it's kind of a weird thing, but similar what I think Cash is saying, it's not the amount of pressure that gets diminished, but it's the amount of strength that upholds us in the pressure that allows us to walk through it. Thank you, Cash. We're going to go to Hebrews. Hebrews 1.
Of course, in Hebrews, the author is writing to the Jewish people, attempting to give them an understanding of who the biblical Jesus Christ is. They had all sorts of ideas about who Jesus might be. If you remember, they say, who. Who do you say that I am? And some people said, he is a prophet.
Others said he's Elijah or one of the great people of old. Someone even said, this is John the Baptist somehow, even though he only died a little bit ago, risen from the dead. They have all sorts of views upon who Jesus Christ is. Those views ranged, they varied very much, but none of them were correct. Today, you and I are experiencing the same thing.
A desire to put Jesus as something who he does not claim to be. A desire to identify him, isolate him, and make him culturally significant. Yes, but on a similar value as the rest of the spiritual entities that this world views as correct. Hebrews is coming to give us a biblical view of who Jesus is. So we've been looking at that in his relationship to angels.
Angels. There are spiritual powers that are described as angels, some fallen, some not, that exist in the world. And some people, even in our culture today, have equated the nature of Jesus Christ as similar to that of angels. The author here is going to give us a different perspective. So we're going to be in chapter one of Hebrews verse.
We're going to start in verse five, but work down through six through eight.
So having finished a little bit ago, recognizing that the name of Jesus is better than that of angels, we're going to see in verse 5 that his nature is also better. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a son. So we looked at this last week, that the Son has a unique relationship with the Father. Jesus describes that relationship in John as saying that he never does anything that God wouldn't do, and he always does what God does do.
And he is deserving of the same glory and honor as God is. He is one with God. He says later on, when you've seen me, you have seen the Father, their nature and is the same. They have the same DNA, they have different positions within the Trinity, but they are of equal worth. The writer is going to take this a little bit Farther.
In verse 6, not only does Jesus have a different name, a different substance, the angels themselves have a way in which they view Jesus. In verse 6 it says, but when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. Let all the angels of God worship him. And of angels he says, who makes his angels, spirits and his ministers aflame of fire. So starting in verse six, when the, when Jesus comes into the world, the angels have to respect him in a certain way.
Now, you and I, hopefully we understand that there are angels, but all angels are not the same. Of course, we recognize that within angels there are what is described as fallen angels. Angels that no longer live, live in willing subjection to God Almighty, but do whatever possible to attack God's nature. There is that group of angels and then there is another group of angels. We see that they are described in Daniel and in revelations as being 10,000 times 10,000 thousands and thousands of thousands of angels who surround the throne of God.
And their sole purpose is to worship and obey God Almighty. There are two groups of angels, but all angels, good or bad, are subject to Jesus Christ in their having to worship Him. Even angels that have rebelled against the authority of God are still under God's authority when God reaches them. We see that over and over in Jesus ministry that these angels, which is described as being demons, are absolutely subject to Jesus, that when he casts them out, when he directs them, they are under his authority. Now, why this is important is because you and I have in life, you and I are going to come across circumstances where we have to deal with angels.
Now some of that dealing is one that is good. His angels are ministers sent to minister to salvation.
Are they not ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? We see that angels have the unique position to minister from God's authority on behalf of those who need it. We see angels rolling stones away, bringing food, opening gates. We see them helping people to understand the future. We see them ministering to people who serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
Minister. Angels are an important part of God's plan for people. Yes, it is scriptural to understand that. But we also need to understand that not all angels are working for the benefit of people.
You and I having the ability, but also the necessity to interact in this world have to come to an understanding of when angels benefit us spiritually and when they do not. Some fulfill the commandments of Christ, others do not. I'm going to go to Colossians. Colossians, you and I, unfortunately, in our culture, I am sure, have been aware of people struggling under the influence of angels disguised in some sort of clothing. And they, as much as they are able, have impacted the lives of people.
Some individuals have submitted to, have allowed those of fallen angels to impact their life, and as a result have suffered the consequences of their ungodliness. We see that in the nation of Israel. We see individuals possessed by demons, driven to horrendous extremes, painful in their souls and in their bodies, having experienced the wrath of Satan against God by trying to destroy the God's creation. It says in Colossians.
It says, let no one cheat you of your reward. Taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Unfortunately, you and I at least know of people who, or have heard or maybe experienced ourselves the position of angels to gain control in the life of a person by offering them something as a result, from my perspective, we have seen damage to the lives of people as people have accepted this place in their heart for these. For these angels. It says, let no one cheat you of your reward.
Taking delight in false humility and worship of angels intruding into those things which he has not seen. There is a very real culture that is developing in America that takes delight in expressing to others what they have experienced spiritually outside of the normal.
I would be astonished if you and I at least didn't know people or haven't maybe even experienced ourselves. The desire to exalt some spiritual experience you have to a level that is not biblical. By doing so, by taking what an angel is capable of doing and lifting it up, we open a door into our lives for which angels should not ever be giving opportunity to have. We open a door for something. We need to understand some things about angels, some things about angels.
First of all, angels have a real purpose. They have a real purpose within the Bible and within the body of Christ. It says that 10 thousands and thousands of thousands of angels ministers in God's presence. We see from Ezekiel, in Daniel. We see in Isaiah and Revelation vast numbers of angels worshiping God and the Lamb, giving their honor to him, crying out, glory, Holy, holy, holy.
It's interesting to note how that affects us. We think, well, wouldn't those angels have a better position Doing something than rather just sitting around God's throne all day long. Wouldn't it be better they were out accomplishing something? Well, it's interesting. One of the things in looking at this in Jesus, if you remember, he was walking and children came up to him and wanted to be with him.
And the disciples began to rebuke the children for having the parents for bringing the children. And Jesus, I haven't read in a little bit, basically says, let the little children come to me for their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven. You see, there is a benefit that comes to individuals, children included, when the angels that appears from this scripture that have an ability to interact the life of these children when they see the face of the Father.
Let me try this again. The benefit that comes from an angel in association with God's glory transfers directly to the people with whom that angel has involvement. The more that the angel worships God, the more benefit that comes to an individual. It says, brethren, do not believe every spirit. I'm going to turn there in.
I believe Second John. Brethren, do not believe every spirit.
In chapter four of First John. Why this is so important for you and I is because in this culture we have exalted experiences with the supernatural to a degree that many people have swallowed a spirit, have engaged within spirit, have welcomed a spirit that does not view and have an experience in worshiping the Father. They live in direct opposition. Their only goal is to wage war against the Father. And certain individuals because of a certain desire to exalt their own fleshly needs, have welcomed spirit in their lives for a selfish reason and have as a result suffered serious repercussion.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit. It says in chapter four of First John. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world by this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
What he's trying to say is there are different spirits. Some confess Jesus as coming in the flesh, others will not. This is not the idea of saying.
That Jesus was a person, that he walked earth, that he physically demonstrated that he was a good teacher. This is confessing the truth of who Jesus is. It is in our culture very easy to say things about Jesus that Jesus does not say say about himself. It is very easy to swallow a belief that other people have said about Jesus being true, that is not true himself, that he does not say himself these spirits, that every spirit. This is a confession of ownership.
This is a confession of believing something to be true. Paul said of Timothy, you have that good confession that Jesus Christ made before Pontius Pilate. You made also. The good confession is, I serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I report to Jesus Christ.
I worship Jesus Christ. He is to me what he says to be. Every spirit that confesses that about Jesus Christ is one you can trust. Spirits that will not confess Jesus Christ cannot be trusted in the life of an individual.
Maybe you're looking at me like Jeremy, I don't know how this affects us.
I'm not much of an individual who watches much TV or movies or keeps up with a culture. But what I do see, I am shocked at the degree in which people play video games welcoming spirits. I am a horde at what Christian people do watching TV that welcome spirits who clearly do not voice the same truth about Jesus that he does. I am amazed that people who say they walk under a spirit of holiness would participate in things that I, from my perspective, have nothing to do with Jesus. You might say what you want, but I believe that we are going and are right now encountering a culture that if not checked within this church, will dramatically change the landscape of our culture and the church as we know it today.
If something is not done regarding the check of welcoming spirits into your home, it will change your home.
It is a scary thing to welcome a spirit into your life that does not confess Jesus Christ as Lord. I'm going to say one more time in Galatians.
In Galatians chapter one, it says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed, as we have said before. So now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. The truth is it is dangerous to listen to the voice of even an angel if it is not one that does not confess the biblical view of Jesus Christ.
The hugest example, unfortunately, in our culture today is from a man named Joseph Smith whose family wanted to welcome spirits into their home. They spent in their home in New York, the fathers and the brothers, and eventually Joseph Smith had regular interaction with spiritual beings. And as a result, that has impacted the lives of millions of people today. It is important which spirit that you listen to. It says in Chapter six, back in chapter one, verse six of Hebrews.
But when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. Angels that worship Jesus Christ are angels that are to help individuals in the path that they are on following Christ. Angels. On the other hand, while Jesus is deserving of the worship of angels, angels have a much lower position. It says in verse seven.
And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels, spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. His angels are spiritual beings that he sends into the world for the, for the, his benefit, for his purposes. We see, like I told you before, they rolled away stones, right? We were, seems like our whole trip we were kind of verging on the illegal or the, you know, out of bounds areas. And one of the areas we ended up going to, this Catholic church in Nazareth, basically there were one other tourist there in this super fancy church of the Ascension or church of something.
And there was one guy, so he came with our group and we ended up going and pounding on the door of this convent and finally got a hold of a sister and she brought us, took us on a tour down below this convent into the layers of religion that exist in Israel. And we got to the bottom layer and it was a tomb and there was a stone and the stone was like that thick and like that tall. And of course, one of the guys went into an area he wasn't supposed to inside the tomb. But we see an angel roll back this immense stone. When Jesus died.
We see him angels opening gates. They do God's will for the people who are serving God. If you look at the biblical scriptures, we see that angels are sent from the presence of God in order to help accomplish God's purposes on earth through people. It is a beautiful thing when angels, I believe, scripturally are working on the behalf of people. We don't absolutely know what they're doing.
But isn't it interesting if you look at your own life, if you have been walking with the Lord and you look at your path, why was it that circumstances went the way they did? Isn't it strange sometimes, doesn't it seem off that maybe they went this way and you didn't, that at that specific moment of time when you should have been somewhere you weren't, where you ended up, somewhere you shouldn't have been, or in a conversation with someone. It seems, if you are like me and like I've heard so many people say is it feels like someone was directing your steps, arranging circumstances, bringing into your life blessing. Stacy And I are always in one near catastrophe after another. And it is strange to see how God provides for our needs, a range of circumstances.
How much of that is angels? I don't necessarily know. But I am grateful for whatever influence an angel that stands before the presence of God and who worship God is sent to work. In my life and in my situation, we see in Daniel a beautiful picture of that, of an angel being sent to Daniel and so many other places in scriptures where angels play an active part in the lives of God's people. They are a flame of fire.
They are without doubt something intimidating to people that all people that experience an angel are impressed with the power and ability of an angel. But it is a short lived thing, a flame, something spectacular with a doubt, but not in any way comparable to the power and enduring responsibility that the Son of God has. There's something, a flame of fire, something, something beautiful in its purpose, but not near the Son of God. We're going to change directions now after viewing the angels just for a second, we're going to refocus on the Son. That is who the angels are.
But to the Son, he says, your throne, o God, is forever ever. While angels have a specific purpose, have a real responsibility when handled biblically, when viewed in contrast to the Son of God and to his ministry, they are minor in detail. My fear is, is that the Church of God has begun to focus on angels in a way that is not biblical, holy or helpful. That angels do not godly angels do not appreciate any way when they're lifted up. They don't like to be exalted, they only like to exalt God.
They don't like when they're worshiped. It says of John, he said to John, see that you do not do that. Angels, biblical angels give all glory to God, to the Son. He says, your God, your throne, o God, is forever and ever. He says, I am a servant of God.
Worship God. You and I's responsibility, I believe in our culture is to resist an unbiblical intrusion of, of angelic power and to instead refocus on the ministry of the Son, which is so much better than that of angels. My hope is that you will take this to your heart. My hope is that you will examine your life, what you allow into your home, what you participate in, what you welcome, to have a spiritual say in your life and question, is this a spirit that confesses, acknowledges, offers obedience to the Son of God? If not, my strong hope is that by doing so you would flee to Christ and remove the vestiges of something that is ungodly out of your life.
We see that Jesus, when he comes into a person's life, wants to establish an authority there, wants to clean that place. We see the lives of Hezekiah and Josiah. As a result, they wanted to get rid of any type of false worship, not so much because of how bad it was, but because that energy needed to go where it was beneficial. Why focus on futility and things that damage when your focus could be placed on that which is beneficial? Why waste your time with trinkets of spiritual power when the Son of God has proven without a doubt that he takes people, he welcomes them and he fights on their behalf.
That's my hope today. Let's pray. Oh Father, we do thank you for your ministering angels in our life. We appreciate them, Lord. And I pray that those ones that are godly, as they glorify you, may we also join in with their worship like in Revelation.
Lord, multitudes along with the angels worshiping the Father and the Son. Lord, we thank you in Jesus name, amen.